In known audio systems of the prior art for the creation of a stereoscopic sound from several audio tracks, such as 5.1 or 7.1, that is, with the aid of five or seven loudspeakers and one bass loudspeaker each, the individual loudspeakers must be arranged and oriented each time very exactly by distance to the audience and among each other in order to provide the desired stereoscopic sound. Due to the local circumstances of the installation room, it is often very difficult if not impossible to arrange the loudspeakers to create a high-quality stereoscopic sound. If the local circumstances are inadequate for the arrangement of the loudspeakers within the installation room, only a poor sound quality and a very poor listening experience can be achieved.
If the local circumstances of the installation room allow a free arrangement of the loudspeakers, nevertheless the arrangements of the individual loudspeakers entail a high cost of measurement procedures in order to achieve a good listening experience. The positions of the loudspeakers need to be determined manually, which on the one hand is very time consuming and on the other hand very prone to mistakes.
Also with traditional object-based audio systems in which a sound is created through a corresponding wave field, coming very close to the tones of actual objects, the precise knowledge of the location and the orientation of each individual loudspeaker is required in order to create an optimal sound. Only with knowledge of the location and the orientation of each individual loudspeaker can the corresponding sound waves be created.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,494,189 B2 a device is described for the automatic position detection of loudspeakers, which uses the positions of the loudspeakers in order to create a virtual sound around a listener, that is, a virtual sound room. Each time the distances between the positions of the individual loudspeakers and the listener are calculated.
In US 2014/0219456 A1 techniques are disclosed for systems with at least one signal processor for the determination of spherical function coefficients for the generating of one or more loudspeaker signals. The system is designed to identify a local loudspeaker arrangement and to ascertain, based on the local loudspeaker arrangement, which signal processor to activate. The signal processor is likewise configured to determine the distances to the loudspeakers.
From EP 2 363 723 A1 there is known a location system, a method and a device for localization inside an interior room.
In US 2004/0071294 A1 a method is disclosed for the automatic setup of a loudspeaker system. The method is based on a technology for transceiver systems for the automatic and non-contact identification and location of objects with radio waves, that is, the transmission of signals for identification with the help of electromagnetic waves, abbreviated as RFID (radio-frequency identification). A RFID system comprises a transponder, also known as a radio tag, on the object being located, with a characteristic code, as well as a reading device for reading the code. Each loudspeaker is outfitted with a transponder and a code. At the place in the room favored by the listener, a wireless communication element is arranged. With the help of the RFID system as well as the wireless communication element, the respective distance between the location favored by the listener in the room and a loudspeaker is determined and transmitted to a loudspeaker control unit.
Furthermore, traditional systems are known for position detection, such as that of mobile devices in an indoor room. The systems are designed either to compare a signal of an identifier against a list of corresponding identifiers in different regions of the room or the systems are designed to follow the movement of the mobile device in relation to an image of the room, in order to determine the position of the mobile device.
For example, from EP 2 881 708 A1 there is known a system and a method for locating of mobile electronic devices in an indoor room.
The systems and methods known from the prior art are very complex and require a large technical expense. Thus, for example, due to the local circumstances of the installation room, either the loudspeakers cannot be arranged so as to generate an optimal stereoscopic sound, or the arrangements of the individual loudspeakers are very time consuming and very prone to mistakes, as well as associated with a high technical expense for measurements in order to achieve a good listening experience. Each position of a loudspeaker needs to be determined individually. The individual loudspeakers of the loudspeaker system cannot be arranged arbitrarily in the room, but instead have to be assigned a particular setup location so that no flexible arrangement of the loudspeakers or the listener is possible.